Easy there tiger – all is well. First of all leveling is a bit of a misdenomer as you do not gain levels anymore but you unlock stuff paid for with XP. There is no “ding” no splash screen telling you when you have enough XP to do something because you are on your own. But don’t get nervous just yet you still have me. Follow me on this wild ride to understand how the new character development system works.

I don’t get levels?

Nope but you get XP. In the top left corner if you didn’t move it around there’s a counter telling you how much XP you have. The goal isn’t to get the counter as high as possible but to gather enough to get that unlock you want.

Unlocks. Which came with levels prior. And now … I get to pick them? I want Shockwave.

That’s fine with me. If you want a certain ability or item you have to purchase the prior technologies first though. Basically you open up your Tech Tree (“T” default) and spend your XP on the tree items. Those grey lines mean “or” so if an unlock has two lines going in you need only one one of them to be eligible to unlock it. If there are two (or maybe more later) yellow lines you need all items connected as such. Now if you want Shockwave you venture down the path to it and take it.

If no one tells me that I leveled up how do I know when to check?

Remember that counter? Plan ahead a little and pick an unlock you want next remember how much XP that was and look for the counter to get there. For T1 it goes in steps of 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 (+/- 500) and for the T2 unlock 18000 XP. It is generally smarter to unlock things you don’t have any version of before you progress towards a higher version so you can reap as many benefits as possible with the lowest XP effort necessary.

Okay screw T1 I want T2 ASAP. Tell me how or this kitten gets it.

This is really easy. Take the top tree (damage) pick the first unlock make the bottom one of the next range your next unlock. Now you can branch south towards the last middle unlock and you can continue in the top row towards that last unlock. It’ll take about 85000XP to T2 if you take the cheapest options past the described ones and it will give you the most damage on that short path allowing you to kill faster allowing you to get XP faster. This may work better in PvE but as you need heaps of resources (omnious foreshadowing is a go!) in T2 anyway that might be a good idea. It takes about 7 to 10 hours of gameplay to reach T2 that way depending on your playstyle and will to grind.

Here’s an image for those visual types.

The path is the same for all ‘frames.

If you want the mobility/defense T2 frame you need to mirror the way described above. Take the bottom unlock followed by the top unlock down the path so you can branch up north and then continue until the end. This path may cost the same amount of XP ish but can be a bite slower because it offers less damage augmentation. Valid still and certainly not really that much harder. I’d figure 8 to 11 hours will do the trick here. Keep in mind for either path to save up 7500 Crystite because that’s the pricetag of your new shiney battleframe. You can leave T1 behind at roughly 30%. If you are short on cash consider Crystite Refining – you can read up here for that.

Anything else interesting about Tier 1 and XP? This is boring.

Tier 1 has it’s own PvP bracket so it may be worth to come back later or stay a bit in T1 and unlock more options. I for one will deffo grind out T1 and unlock all the options just to be adaptive and play around with stuff. I like Firefall and there is a reason Tier 1 exists – it’s a training wheel mode where you needn’t worry about epicly crafted super guns and the PvP balance is probably the most skill dependant. But here is a very important reminder: XP and Gear do not carry over to T2. If you feel like T1 isn’t for you powerlevel through it and switch to T2 as soon as you can or you will more or less waste XP in a bracket you don’t like.

There is more to it?

Yes and no. Actually yes. It’s complicated. We don’t hang out that much anymore and – … oh Leveling! Yeah you can speed it up by following some fairly simple guidelines. It’s neither magic nor impossibru and it doesn’t require awesome gear or unbelievable skill. No exploits nothing. Just some time dedication and a wise selection of spots.

Sun Tzu right? I’ve read that book.

Then you already know that the army with it’s back to a wall fights the hardest. Which is what I would advice to do. Find a spot with a limited area of approach for enemies. Be it against a cliff wall house abyss or a steep water’s edge (shallow water doesn’t work for this) but limit the angles from where enemies can come in. That makes it easier to herd them and allows for better AoE damage. Also you need to watch less angles reducing the strain of awareness on your mushy mushy head.

Got it found a cliff called her Betsy. What now?

If Betsy lives in the far North along the beach to the east right where the Melding touches the game-world well done. If you thump close to the Melding you get harder mobs that die for more XP. For example a normal Hisser gives you 25XP whereas a melded Hisser gives you 50 – and Large Melded Hissers 95. And they come in thick thick swarms. You can easily get double the XP there so go there. Alternatively there are spots in the South and the West aswell. Close to the Melding is where the roosters are at.

NEVERMIND BUGS CAN CRAWL UP WALLS NOW. D:

I just died and I blame you. A dozen Chosen ruined my party.

Oh yeah I should mention that the bulk of Chosen is both possible and the worst spawn you can get. Their ranged DPS and high HP make them really bad for your health and your Thumper. But there is a simple solution for that – buddy up with someone else and fight together. And by buddy up I mean with up to four other people for a full squad of 5. Or make two squads of 5 each if you want to do Advanced Thumpers.

But my precious resources!

… are insubstantial. You want to gain XP as efficiently as possible and the best way to do is to reduce spawn downtime and maximize XP influx. Every mob killed by a squaddie gives you XP plus your own kills. You want to have a Thumper up as long as possible and instantly call it back and replace it when it’s done regardless of mob situation. Call it even whilst fighting but keep the Thumper up so the spawns keep coming and your squad keeps killing.

These other guys are stealing my XP though. Right? Right?

If you thump a 100% of possible presence you will have more mobs to shoot than you could kill by yourself while also endangering your Thumper thusly reducing uptime (either because it gets blown up or you have to call it back). Additionally you receive their squaddy XP too. They aren’t stealing your XP they are guarding your Thumper and give you XP you wouldn’t be able to tap into properly by yourself. Love your buddies.

Okay I did all that and now I have 3200 XP. I unlocked the Jumpjets in my T1 frame. Time to go home and equip them right?

By all means don’t. Stay until your group falls apart or you are done. It’s a long walk there so keep going. Don’t even bother unlocking stuff just stay in the fight and kill. It’s neither necessary nor substantial to use unlocks. If you die or take a break (read: run into the Melding and insta-port to Copa) unlock equip craft and go back. If your squad drops people ask for new buddies in /zone. It’ll make it faster easier and maybe you find someone you will want to /friend too.